FREMONT -- A driver speeding away from an argument with another motorist struck a woman Wednesday as she pushed her baby daughter in a stroller with her young son beside her on a Centerville district sidewalk, authorities said.

The mother, 43, suffered a severe head injury in the 11 a.m. collision and was transported to Eden Hospital in Castro Valley, while her 1-year-old daughter was taken to Children's Hospital in Oakland where she was treated for a serious head injury, Fremont Fire Battalion Chief Rich Dickinson said.

The woman's 5-year-old son was not injured.

Police late Wednesday identified the driver as 21-year-old Joseph Ansari of Union City. Ansari was treated at a Washington Township Hospital in Fremont for minor injuries, then arrested upon his release on suspicion of reckless driving causing bodily injury and taken to Santa Rita Jail.

Ansari was driving a white Nissan Maxima west on Fremont Boulevard when he got into an argument with another motorist near the intersection of Fremont Boulevard and Mowry Avenue, said police Detective Bill Veteran

While the other motorist slowed down, police said Ansari kept going, traveling above the speed limit along Fremont Boulevard, though police said they didn't know exactly how fast. As he approached Peralta Boulevard, Ansari lost control of the Maxima, police said, and hit the mother and children on the sidewalk.

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"(He) tries to make a right turn, goes up on the sidewalk, hits a light pole then strikes the woman and her two children," Veteran said.

Both vehicles stopped after the collision, police said.

The accident is under investigation. After the crash, police closed the intersection to traffic for several hours, reopening the street just before 3:30 p.m.